I'm a mess without my little china girl..

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! Year of the dog-should be good.

I have so many things I want to say but feel I have completely lost it today. Nothing is sadder than a woman crying in the basement sorting through old clothes hangers. Pathetic. Everytime I go downstairs I see this box of jumbled hangers left over from our move, well over a year ago. I came to the conclusion it represents my jumbled mind. What a mess. I feel a little better now that it's sorted and I'm tossing half of them. If dealing with my brain could be as easy.

Every where I went The Bee Gees followed me on Muzak radio in stores. It was creeping me out. I also kept seeing the same people, and I was at various places and I don't live in a town of 200 people. It has been a strange cosmic day and I should just leave it at that.

It's guaranteed to raise a smile...

I'll admit I was having a bad day. If I have to call Melvin at work to complain, you know it's bad. No sooner did I get off the phone with him, the mail arrived. I had a PACKAGE-from Wales!

Background story for this. Melvin told me to check out the Superfurry site



Now we have this voice changer. No I didn't steal it from Gruff. One-I have never visited Bangor and two-I've never seen SFA. Melvin gave me the sort of ok to send this and I sent a letter to SFA telling them if they did not find a replacement, I would send them mine. Heard back from them saying they haven't fond one and in return they would send me anything I wanted. I asked for the re-release of Radiator. 2 months went by and I was about to write SFA off my list. And then I received this.



They sent me all the new reissues and their solo records too. As well as some pins and a nice letter as well. Made my day and got me out of the doldrums.

When it gets late at night...

This picture has followed itsmelvin and I around the country and is always placed on our refrigerator. Do we relate to these individuals from La Dolce Vita? In some ways we do. We're both more like Marcello's character, and yet not so edgy. I know I have seen this when I was younger, but only parts seemed familiar. We watched it over the weekend and I'm not sure how to take it. It's so heavy and filled with sadness and anger, I'm afraid it's coming out in my dreams.

I'm not like everybody else...

Here is the zombie story. It was written in my complete freak out phase of zombies last summer. Enjoy.

I'm really not feeling very well. Too exhausted. You know what they say about flight or fright...o.k. so I don't remember either. All I know it's been nothing but fright and I would L-O-V-E it to take flight. Come on National Guard-rescue me take me away. Oh but wait, this is my purgatory. I forgot, I wrote about this in my blog.

I wish I had some water up here with me.

Think Think

Tomorrow I'll look around up here, maybe there's some stuff I can use in that utility closet.

I just need to rest my eyes, but all I hear is that MOANING! If they don't find me up here I swear I'll go insane from their annoying groans. I'll just jump off this building if they (whispering) don't shut up.

I still can't believe it. One minute I'm trying on jeans in Macy's-the next thing I know, there is a cavalcade down at the food court, and brother, it wasn't the sesame chicken that was all the rage. it was people. People eating people.

How did I escape? I remember running down a hall for staff only and in a room near the exit I saw a security officer on the phone. He just half smiled at me and well I must have looked pitiful enough because he handed me a gun. He placed the gun in my hand and said "Good luck"

Oh...thanks.

Gun in one hand, car keys in the other, I took off out the emergency exit. Not the best plan. Zombies react to loud noises. They must know that loud noises equals fleshy brains.

How long had this been going on? Why were there so many? WHAT HAPPENED?!
In my car, I just started driving. Driving...

I'm usually terrified of expressways, but hey, since the zombie takeover the roads were practically empty. Just watch out for those runaway buses.

The radio stations kept playing the emergency broadcast warning, but there weren't any follow ups.
I still have no idea what happened.

I wound up here in Kingston. Yep, ran out of gas. But it was the same here too. Zombies everywhere.

I found this place because I thought it had the best spot in town. That and I was lucky enough to find a way up.

So here I am, stuck on a rooftop in Kingston, hoping some West Point boys will find me up here.

But for right now, I just need to sleep.

Must be the season of the witch...

In the span of 2 days I received 2 rejections.

In my youth I would have been devastated. I used to keep a box of my rejection letters in a cigar box. They were a mish mash of items. Mostly from graduate schools and gallery exhibits. I have since burned them all (I really don't think it's healthy to keep that sort of thing)

One of the current rejections came by email. I was enquiring about joining am artist's group in a town not too far away. "Too many people involved." How can that be?

The other came by post and I already knew for months about it(it was a hunch really). I had entered a monologue contest for the local library. The subject was to write about a disaster, real or imaginary. I wrote about a woman who escapes a zombie attack. It was very funny. Maybe I'll post it.

I'm not giving up, it's really about being an outsider and having to find a new way.

Don't let the sun catch you crying...

I know this doesn't look like some of my other paintings, but I'm all about trying news things. This is my way to do it. I have some more sea creature ideas, then I'll move on.

Last night was nice. Fell asleep to the sounds of a snowstorm.

I've come so far to see you all...

Acumamakiki (the list queen) had this up today. Lists are strange things. They give you a sort of abstracted view of someone's life.

4 places you've been on vacation
Amsterdam, London, Memphis, San Francisco

4 websites you visit daily
Athomewithrose, lillyslounge,Pointless and Absurd, lmtyd, and of course Acumamakiki

4 favorite foods
Chocolate, pizza, egg sandwiches, salmon patties

4 places you'd rather be
London, Vienna, Amsterdam, New Zealand

4 albums you can't live without(too hard), Pet Sounds, Rubber Soul, The Kinks greatest, I Love Life(Pulp), Radiator (SFA),Low Life(New Order-which is really the soundtrack to my life, honestly)

4 vehicles you've owned-(only 2) blue lemans, and a chapagney color Honda accord

4 jobs you've had in your life-cheese stacker(I was 8), YMCA camp couciler, mail sorter, gallery clicker girl

4 movies you could watch over and over-Donnie Darko, The Graduate, Get Carter(Michael Caine mind you) and Dr.Strangelove

4 TV shows you love to watch-My Name is Earl, The Office (BBC and American), Arrested Developement (only 3)

Rock me all night long...

I really can't recommend this for everyone, but hearing KC and The Sunshine Band always brightens my day. Why? Maybe because I was a happy-go-lucky 10 year old when the band was popular(wait, shouldn't all 10 year olds be happy). And did my parents realize I was singing songs about shagging? I know I didn't. I thought he was just singing about dancing. It probably warped me on some kind of subliminal level but it could be worse.

I'm trying to figure out ways to make some extra money besides selling our belongings on eBay. I could set up some sort of relief fund for the poor paintergirl. I haven't worked it all out yet. My lovely UK friends could just send me chocolate from Algerian Coffee down on Kings Road. Great stuff. If I were on a desert island, and I could pick one thing that I could eat, it would be this chocolate. So anyone with connections, email me.

...drinking a pina colada in Trader Vic's

I ALWAYS hear that song now. I never knew what Trader Vic's was until we lived in Atlanta. Fun place, miss it a bit.

Listening to Pulp, New Order, David's sampler 3 and The Ricky Gervais show on podcast. Every time RG laughs, I'm in stiches.

Reading A Man Without a Country(thanks to Susan)
Persepolis 2 (a xmas gift from Melvin, and it's lovely)
Swallows and Amazons (thanks to David for the recommendation)
Toilet training The Brazelton Way (the most important book of all)

The little man is off in childcare now so I must make the best of my time. So I'm off.

There's a girl about town...

Acumamakiki had this list and it's short enough for me to do in a small amount of time.

My name: Paintergirl
Childhood ambition: Astronomer
Fondest memory: Floating in parents' pool
Soundtrack: Donnie Darko
Retreat: Bear Mountain
Wildest dream: To rule the world
Proudest moment: Producing a healthy baby boy
Biggest challenge: Trying to find more self confidence
Alarm clock: My son
Perfect day: Painting, yoga, reading, no stress-no worries, having a good I-Ching.
First job: Stacking cheese
Indulgence: Could be a pint of Guinness or dancing to Japan(Have I said to much?)
Last purchase: Christmas gifts
Favorite movie: Hmmm...very hard, so many. Donnie and The Office are my tops right now.
Inspiration: "To strive, to seek, to find but not to yield"
My life: My little family of 8-(a dog, a cat, and 3 fish included)
My card is a visa

What about you??

I just drank a pint of flat tonic because I refuse to waste anything. Happy to know I won't get malaria anytime soon. Whenever I have tonic I think of "A Town Like Alice."

And talk about the weather...

Happy New Year to everyone!

We went to Bear Mountain park the day before Christmas. It's lovely to see a frozen lake. This is one of the nicest pictures.

A new year and a blanket of new snow to cover the ground.